The man in charge of the land of the free (not Donald Trump) rocked up to ABC News earlier this month and told America gay marriage should be legal. Earlier this week the leader of this great country had a spokesperson issue a statement declaring gay marriage was a government...
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Dear Mr Cameron,
I've got half an eye on the Leveson feed while I write this piece, so it could be out of date by the time I post; but assuming you are still Prime Minister when I finish typing, I was wondering if you'd seen Chloe...
Primaries & Caucuses
Although the Democrats and the Republicans have yet to hold their late summer conventions, the 2012 race for the presidency is clearly in full gear.
We are now coming to the end of a brutalizing Republican Primary-Caucus season - beginning back in the freezing...
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Sometimes, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. I seem to be one of the only people who has noticed that amid the biggest financial crisis in a generation, parliament has just insouciantly waved through £350 million on some drawings of some new submarines. Maybe I'm being unfair...
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Alan Johnson MP has revealed that he is considering a bid for London Mayor in 2016. Here are four reasons why he is Labour's best choice.
1. Stopping a third term for Boris Johnson
Politicos are fascinated by the intriguing power struggles at the top of the Conservative Party between...
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Exploitation in the food industry is alive and well. That's according to the latest grim report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which studied the experiences of some of the migrant workers (almost invisibly) toiling in our fields, factories and restaurants.
According to the report's authors, who interviewed more than...
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Leyla Zana is a Kurdish politician and member of Peace and Democracy party in Turkey. She has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by Diyarbakir's High Court for nine speeches she has made between 2007 and 2008. Once again she is charged with "spreading propaganda" on behalf of the...
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When the first Euros were printed in 1999, Europe chose a bold new future.
Economic and monetary union was a symbol of a new European self-confidence: the first currency union in Europe in modern times, within the world's largest trading bloc, and a degree of political co-operation that belied our...
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The best economies are the ones that produce the best ideas and for the UK to remain a successful and creative economy it has to be a centre for ideas, risk taking and innovation. The role for government should be to create the conditions which make the best and most...
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Maybe it's just my over-sensitivity, but the mooted return of Tony Blair to British politics strikes me as mind-bendingly peculiar.
Or maybe just par for an overly-cynical course.
However you interpret them, the facts are far from pretty.
There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Al...
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The 18th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide was commemorated in April in Rwanda and around the world. Many proclamations were issued, expressions of sympathy made, and hopes for the future expressed.
As happens every year, solidarity with genocide survivors was expressed but very little was done to actually meet...
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"Buy Sex - Pay the Price," scream the posters in Brixton Tube. A silhouette of a shady man stands underneath the headline, moodily checking his mobile phone. "Lambeth Council and Lambeth police are targeting those who buy sex," explains the blurb, helpfully reminding commuters that "Prostitution is a form of...
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This week, many Arsenal fans experienced a strange sense of internal conflict. With resentment in their eyes, and confusion in their hearts, they found themselves cheering on their bitter rivals, Chelsea, in the Champions League Final. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend", says the Arabian proverb, and a...
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Earlier this year David Cameron spoke of the government's "failure of nerve" over infrastructure by pledging to hold a consultation on 'Boris Island' and reform bureaucratic planning laws.
George Osborne, too, made it a key priority in November last year when he unveiled the National Infrastructure...
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Deputy Prime Minister's questions, 22 May 2012
For most of its history, this island has survived, indeed prospered, without there being a Deputy Prime Minister. It is possible, I suppose, to reach for historical analogs, but they have their limits. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, for example, "did" for his brother,...
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At the start of this week Conservative MP, Elizabeth Truss, published her proposals for reducing the high costs of childcare in Britain. At the heart of her proposals is a drive to reduce regulation on the childcare industry. Truss has two main ideas: a relaxation of ratios so...
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Quite a few people who I like and respect have spoken to me recently saying something along the lines of 'Can you believe they are telling us we should give prisoners the vote? Why the hell should prisoners have the vote?' These people seem surprised when I tell them that...
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Adrian Beecroft's hotly anticipated report to number 10 on how to improve growth and efficiency through changing employment law is now characterised by one controversial suggestion. Doing away with unfair dismissal.
Vince Cable and Nick Clegg were right to challenge this provision (as has been reported) asking "where is the...
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At a time of spending cuts and squeezed budgets at every level of government, people with mental illness and their families are understandably nervous about the future. They are seeing services they used to rely on being drastically scaled back or shut down completely. It's a worrying time.
They...
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Time is flying by and there's only six months to the new incoming Police and Crime Commissioners. There is an awful lot of work going on behind the scenes, not just locally but nationally as well.
A new national interim board has been set up that will act as...
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